Shadow of the Moon
by star.flash.17
Summary: “There’s only one place I’m going, and that’s by your side.” As if a Weasley wedding and the beginning of the war weren't enough, Ron and Hermione deal with something bigger than it all. RWHG summer post 6th year. Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**Shadow of the Moon**

by lunarouge

ship: r/hr

setting: Summer after 6th year, before Bill and Fleur's wedding.

disclaimer: I own nothing. I just don't.

a/n: Just a little background for you...It's the summer after 6th year, and the Order headquarters are still in Grimmauld Place. Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys are dealing with the aftermath of Dumbledore's death and the beginning of the war. Ron and Hermione, however, are dealing with the start of something much bigger than it all...

enjoy!

* * *

"No! You are…_unbelievable_!" 

A mad rush up the stairs, the slamming of a door, and the turn of a lock—

"Hermione, open this door!" Ron Weasley bellowed in a no-nonsense voice, banging violently on the door with his fist. Hermione Granger sat at the foot of her bed in Grimmauld Place, arms crossed and her heart beating wildly in her chest.

"No!"

"Come on, Hermione. I'm serious. Open this door or Merlin help you, I'll do more than _alohomora_ my way in!"

There was quiet for a moment, in which he heard her shuffle towards the door, sure she was going to open it.

"Sod off, Ron!"

His temper getting the better of him, Ron blasted the door with his wand. It swung open forcefully, stopping inches before Hermione's nose. She turned round and made to leave, but Ron held her by the wrist as he bolted the door shut, trapping both of them in the room Hermione and Ginny shared.

"Let me go, Ronald," Hermione said menacingly, her own wand now in her other hand.  
"Nothing doin'," he replied, although he loosened his grip a bit. "Not until you understand."

Hermione prodded Ron in the chest with her wand. "What I understand is that you don't think I can handle what's coming!" She yanked her arm forcefully out of Ron's grasp, and brushed her bushy brown hair out of her eyes.

"That's not it and you know it," Ron said in a tone of forced calm. He tucked his wand in the back pocket of his trousers.  
"Oh, then what is it?" Hermione asked heatedly, glaring at him.

Ron ran both hands through his fiery red hair, exasperated. "Can we stop shouting for just a minute? Please? Otherwise the entire Order will be up here."

Hermione looked at him in surprise. He had never backed out of an argument with her. He'd always had to have the last word, until either she petered out and gave up on changing his mind, or stormed off so he wouldn't see her cry out of vexation.

"Fine," she said shortly, and flopped back down on the bed. It was unlike her to be so moody, but the entire concept of the discussion they were about to have seemed absurd.

This war was driving everyone insane. There had never been so much security in Grimmauld Place, but it was really Godric's Hollow Hermione was worried about. Harry was heading out there a few days after Bill and Fleur's wedding, and the plan had been that Ron and Hermione would join him.

That is, until Ron and Harry had decided otherwise. They wanted to send her out of the wizarding world entirely.

As she was caught up in these thoughts, Ron sat down next to her. He tilted her chin up so he could look her straight in the eye.

"You know I think you can handle anything, Hermione. You _know_ that. This isn't about being able to _handle_ anything."  
"Then what is it about, Ron? Pretending everything is alright?"

"No, Hermione. It's about keeping you safe."  
"And what about you? Who's going to keep you safe? The Order? Because if they were really that foolproof Dumbledore wouldn't be _dead_!" She said all this a bit more forcefully than she had intended. Ron looked at her sternly.

"You didn't mean that," he said, and she sighed.  
"I know. It's just…I'm not a little girl, Ron. I've been with you and Harry through everything else, and now you get the nerve to tell me I'm not going with you? Now that things are getting dangerous, really and truly dangerous, you're asking me to go home, to bail out and pretend I don't know anything about it?"

"I'm not asking you to bail out," Ron said, running his hands through his hair again. "I'm simply asking you to stay safe. You've got so much more to go for. You're the brightest witch of the age, and Harry and I can't have you playing right into You-Know-Who's hands. Do you know what he could do with someone like you?" He puffed out his cheeks in frustration. "I don't even want to think about it. He could manipulate you in so many ways!"

"Who says I'd let him?" Hermione said brashly. "Look, Ron, I made a promise. You and I made a promise to Harry, that we would go with him no matter what, and I never break a promise." Hermione began to fiddle with the ratty blanket on the bed, not wanting to look at Ron.

"I've already talked to Harry," Ron said patiently, "and we both agreed it should just be me and him. In fact, he's talking to Ginny in our room right now. She's not going either."

"Why you and not us? Just because we're girls? You think we're so fragile we can't cope with death, with evil? You think we can't fight?" Hermione felt her temper flaring and forced herself to take a deep breath.

"No, I know you can. I just…" Ron trailed off. His words were somehow lodged in his throat.  
"What?" Hermione asked curiously. Ron cleared his throat and steeled himself. He took Hermione's hands gently in his and spoke to them.

"I just…can't risk losing you."

Silence hung between them for a moment as Hermione thought about what he'd said.

"And you think I can risk losing you, Ron? You really think I can go for days on end without seeing you, hearing your voice?"

Ron looked at her for a long time, his heart doing back flips between his ribs. "You can't?" He said finally.  
"No," she replied simply. "I can't. You're all I have left."  
"Ron," she continued impatiently, "the muggle world is no longer my world. I belong here, with Harry, with you."

Why was she making this ten times harder? Why couldn't she just say she agreed? He hated the words coming out of his mouth, the way they stumbled out like boulders.

"But you would be safer there. You can blend in…you haven't got magical blood in your veins, and that's what Death Eaters will be hunting first. Purebloods. I hate asking you to do this, but it's for the best. Please, Hermione. Please, say you'll go."

Hermione stuck her chin out defiantly. "There's only one place I'm going, and that's by your side. I can't believe you're asking me to leave."

"Bloody hell, Hermione, do you really think I want you to go?" Ron exclaimed edgily. It killed him, all this righteous talk of doing what was best. If she wanted to fight with them why couldn't she?

Because he loved her too much to see her lose. He loved her too much to see her die.

"Don't you think I'd rather keep you with me all the time, so I would know you're safe?"

"Then take me with you, Ron. Problem solved." She met Ron's eyes and saw how badly he wanted to oblige her.  
She loved him too much to give up and stay safe. She loved him too much not to bleed with him.

He ripped his gaze away from hers and stood up, his back to her, his shoulders hunched around his ears.

"No, Hermione. You're going back to your parents, tomorrow morning. And that's that."

"Ron, no, there's got to be another way—" Hermione was pleading now, her voice choked up with tears. Couldn't he see how much she needed to be there with him?

"There's not," Ron barked, still with his back to her, heading towards the doorway. As he turned the knob he looked over his shoulder and said gruffly, "Get packing."

And with an insurmountable sense of loss, Hermione watched him walk away.

* * *

a/n: Read and review, my lovelies! I _know_ this is the raw r/hr passion you have been craving :)  
…okay, maybe not, but humour me, please. Book seven isn't too far off! 

So, chapter two, or not?

review and I shall love you for all the days of my life!

xoxo,  
lunarouge


	2. Chapter 2

**Shadow of the Moon**

a/n: thank you to all the lovely reviewers! You people make my life! Please enjoy chapter two, this story's namesake!

CHAPTER TWO

* * *

Ron headed back to the room he shared with Harry, dejected. The sight of Hermione's broken face made his heart clench painfully inside his chest. If only she knew how difficult it was for him to deny her anything, and for what? So her safety could somewhat assured? Better her by his side, so he could totally assure it, even with his own life. 

Ron turned the knob as he fumbled about in these thoughts, and was unpleasantly jerked from their wake.

Harry and Ginny lay on his bed, kissing.

"Oy…" he said softly, more for his benefit then theirs.

Harry and Ginny instantly sprung apart, frantically smoothing their rumpled clothes and trying to avoid Ron's gaze. He had half a mind to yell but decided against it. He didn't have the strength, nor did he want to get tangled in another affair.

Ginny muttered something to Harry, tucked her hair over one ear, and ducked her head as she left the room. Harry shut the door after her and hovered by the threshold, apprehensive of Ron.

"You can sit down, Harry. I'm not…I don't have the energy to cope with what I just saw, so I'll pretend it never happened, all right?"  
"Thanks, mate," Harry said, sounding extremely relieved. He joined Ron on the edge of his bed. "Everything okay?"  
"Not really. I just told Hermione she was going home in the morning."

Harry's features softened compassionately. "How'd she take it?"  
"Just like we knew she would." Ron's tone suddenly grew brusque. "Why'd I let you talk me into a stupid decision, anyway?"  
"Because it's for the best," Harry replied, somewhat taken aback by Ron's hostility. "You know that."  
"Is it really, Harry? I mean, she's been there for all of it, for everything!" Ron's eyes flashed dangerously, and Harry took great pains to choose his words carefully.

"Ron, we've gone over this. In the end, you agreed with me. Hermione is like my sister, and I have to protect the only family I've got left. I'm still not too keen on you coming with me, but you're my best mate, and I know I can't talk you out of it. Hermione…well, she's still got a chance. You want her safe just as much as I do…and probably more."

Knowing this to be absolute fact, Ron deterred from thoughts of Hermione.  
"So what did Ginny say?"

Harry sighed, and filtered his raven hair through his fingers. "She wasn't happy about it. We rowed for a good hour. But eventually, she—well, she didn't agree, but she consented to stay with your mum. For a bit, anyway. I think that's as good a promise as I'm going to get from her at the moment."

"Looks like you got more than a promise," Ron said in a jokingly dark tone. Harry smiled; glad Ron's anger had faded as quickly as it had flared.  
"Well…" Harry trailed off, the hint of a smile in his voice.

Ron turned to face him head-on.  
"Harry, do you love her?"  
"What?"

Harry was utterly bemused. It was not like Ron to ask these kinds of questions.  
"Do you love my sister? Do you love Ginny?"  
Casting his eyes downward, Harry spoke to the floor.  
"I can't."  
"That's not what I asked."  
"I know, but it doesn't matter if I do or don't, because I can't. And you know why."

Ron nodded, knowing that was the best confession he would wrangle out of Harry. It was times like this he felt sorry for his best mate. The weight of the world was riding on his shoulders, and he couldn't trade it off to anyone else.

"How 'bout a game of Exploding Snap?" Ron asked, rummaging in his trunk for a pack of cards. Harry eyed him oddly.  
"Ron, we haven't played that since fourth year."  
"I know, mate, but let's enjoy our youth while we can, eh?"  
Grinning, Harry shuffled the deck. 

Hermione's trunk sat, neatly packed, at the foot of her bed. A sliver of moonlight illuminated the planes of her smooth cheek as she slept fitfully. Ginny had not shut the door when she had left twenty minutes ago, so Ron found it quite easy to slip into the room unnoticed.

He tiptoed carefully to Hermione's bed, simply watching her breathe, her chest straining the cloth of her soft pink nightgown. Forcing himself to look away from that particular part of Hermione's anatomy, Ron brought his eyes back up to her face. She looked focused even as she slept, her brow creased and the bow of her lips curved into a slight frown.

There had been other times over the past six years where Ron had watched Hermione fall asleep, her hair strewn across a table in the common room, her face stuck to a page of one of her many textbooks. Sometimes he'd get lucky, while they waited up for Harry, and her head would droop onto his shoulder. He'd try his best not to shift about, even when the tips of her hair prodded him in the face.

Hermione gave a little sigh and Ron started, so that the floorboards beneath his long feet, unbrushed by his too-short pajamas, groaned. His body froze. Hermione heard the noise and sat up a little, blinking sleep from her eyes.

"Ron?"

_Bloody hell._ _He was in for it._

"Yeah?" he said in a gruff whisper.

"What are you doing in here?"  
"I was…er…making sure you got packed."

"Ron?" she asked again.  
"Yeah?"  
"Come here."

Ron toddled over to her. Was she going to slap him?  
He stood a foot away from the bed.

Hermione frowned, pulled back the covers, and scooted over to her right, leaving a space large enough for his lanky body to fold into.

"Come here," she requested once more.

Trying valiantly to quell the trembling in his legs, Ron gently tucked himself between the sheets. He'd had many a dream that started like this before, and didn't trust himself to speak.

Hermione bit her lip in laughter, and cuddled close to him from behind.

"I couldn't sleep," she murmured, so her breath did delicious things to his ear. "I kept having horrible dreams about the war."  
Ron gulped.

"Rotten luck."  
"Yeah…"

Her voice faded into the darkness; Ron had shut the door behind him.

"Hermione?" he asked in a small voice, turning his entire body around to face hers.  
"Yeah?"  
"Are you mad at me? You know, because I'm sending you home?"

Hermione fiddled with the ribbon on her nightgown. "I know you're only doing what you think is best."  
"I'm really not," he said sadly. "I want you there with me…and with Harry," he amended quickly.  
She looked up at him.

"Then don't send me home, Ron. Please?"

Her voice was very un-Hermionelike, almost like that of a child's, but Ron felt no paternal urges. Instead, he simply wanted to scoop her up in his arms and watch her fall asleep as he told her a lullaby of promises, promises that she could stay with him, and be safe and loved. He pushed this feeling aside reluctantly.

"But I promised Harry."

"Hang what you promised Harry," Hermione said on a yawn. "Because you do realize that even if you don't say yes, I'll find my way to the pair of you?"

Ron chuckled. "I figured you might."

"So why don't you just make this easier on all of us and let me go with you?"  
"You're a much more level-headed fighter in the night, you know that?" He asked, allowing himself a small smile, which Hermione returned.

"Not really. I've been tossing and turning for two hours, and this is what my mind has been reciting…what I should have told you earlier."

"I'm sorry, Hermione. I know Harry and I shouldn't have made that decision on our own. It's about you, so I s'pose you should've had a say."

"I do now, don't I? I'm going."

Ron shook his head. "I want you to, I swear, but—"  
"Ron, don't fight me on this one," she warned.  
"I'm really trying not to, Hermione, but—"

Hermione looked him squarely in the eye, seemed to size him up for a moment, and kissed him swiftly on the lips.

Ron's body seized up again, this time in pleasure.  
"Goodnight," she said cheerfully, and rolled on her side to sleep.

" 'Night," Ron said in a daze. He pulled the covers up to his chest, his elbow prodding Hermione in the back, but she didn't seem to mind.

At that moment, nothing else mattered. Not even tomorrow morning. Ron didn't know if Hermione would stay or go, but nothing mattered other than the fact that they were falling asleep together, beneath the shadow of the moon.

* * *

a/n: chapter two for you. Sorry it took so long. Please review, I'm just as interested to see where this story is going as (I hope) you are! 

xoxo,  
lunarouge


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